Introduction

These words, spoken on 13 April 2017 during a debate in the Kyrgyzstan Parliament by an ethnic Kyrgyz member called Ainura Altybaeva, express the strong resentment that exists against ethnic Uzbeks, for the quotation highlights a difference in the way many Kyrgyzstan Uzbeks feel: they do not generally worry that their children might grow up as ‘non-patriots of Kyrgyzstan’. This is hardly their main concern. As my Uzbek informants reveal, the practices that characterize the everyday securityscapes of Uzbeks in Southern Kyrgyzstan point in a very different direction. They have chosen to encourage their children to learn the Russian language because members of the Uzbek community do not generally see a future for their children in Kyrgyzstan. This is why the majority of Uzbek children from economically stable families attend private Russian-language kindergartens and schools, or take language courses in Russian.

This phenomenon is in direct contrast to what the Kyrgyz government is doing at the larger level of policymaking, where it vigorously promotes the role of the Kyrgyz language, culture and tradition. All recent Kyrgyzstani presidents have actively championed the primary usage of the Kyrgyz language. In 2011, then President of the Kyrgyz Republic Roza Otunabaeva stated that ‘the younger generation of all ethnic minorities in Kyrgyzstan should eventually learn to speak Kyrgyz’ (Farangis, 2011). In 2013, Almazbek Atambaev, president from 2011 to 2017, again expressed an interest in promoting the Kyrgyz language, stating that ‘it is a disgrace to not speak the language of the country where one permanently lives’ (Baktybaev, 2013).

The purpose of this article is to examine how Uzbek parents in Osh seek to make sense of their children's future and act in ways that are acceptable to the state in response to the dramatic conflicts and political changes in Kyrgyzstan's post-Soviet environment. In times of insecurity and rapid change brought about by conflict, the Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan are finding creative ways of building a better future for their children.